The Tempest
by cheekymice
Summary: Twas a dark and stormy night in Newport. Idea taken from ocplotbunnies community.
1. Chapter 1

**Title: **The Tempest  
**Author:****cheekymice**.**  
Rating: **PG**  
Beta: **None...so all mistakes are mine.**  
Disclaimer:** I don't own The OC, Ryan or Benjamin McKenzie.**  
Story: **Taken from an idea over at ocplotbunnies.**  
Notes:** This fic will be made up of short but sweet chapters...oh and there will be no sex! Heh. 

**The Tempest**

_An OC fic most definitely__ not written by William Shakespeare._

The rain was pelting down hard sending mini rivers flowing down the glass of the windows. California was not used to such a deluge and huge puddles formed lakes on the normally parched soil and the normally bright sky was dark and grey.

Ryan and Seth had spent most of the evening since the downpour started playing computer games and eating snacks. Chip crumbs littered the floor, orange Cheeto dust smeared their tees and jeans, empty coffee cups and soda cans lined up like soldiers on the table.

Kirsten spent the evening curled up on the sofa reading a slushy romance novel and listening to the boys banter with each other as they shot zombie invaders. She also clock watched waiting for Sandy to finish work, he was late this evening. She didn't like him driving when the weather was this bad. People in Newport drove like idiots in the rain and she wouldn't be happy until the front door opened and Sandy was home.

* * *

Sandy shook himself like a dog in the kitchen.

"Whoa…it's like the end of the world out there. The freeway is totally snarled up…. flash flood I think. I was beginning to doubt whether I'd ever get home tonight."

Kirsten rubbed Sandy's hair with a fluffy towel.

"It's getting windy out there too." Seth said as he stared out of the window. One of the pool chairs blew over on its side with a clatter and bounced perilously near the edge of the pool.

Ryan opened the backdoor and started to grab the chairs. The heavy rain was already soaking his hair and running down his body. Seth waved from inside the warmth of the house as he watched Ryan move the furniture to the safety of the garage.

Sandy had showered and changed into sweats by the time Ryan had cleared the decking. Ryan hurtled back into the kitchen, shivering and wiping water from his face and out of his eyes.

"Thanks for your help Seth." Ryan glared at Seth.

"Child of California buddy, think of my hair!"

Kirsten rushed over with the towel again and started to vigorously rub at Ryan's hair. He twisted, grimaced and firmly wrenched the towel out of her hand. He stood looking embarrassed as he continued to mop himself off. Kirsten didn't look offended at the blatant brush off from her foster son. Ryan was not like Seth who would enjoy being fussed over and would be pretend sneezing by now to get sympathy.

"Cocoa…that's what we all need." She put a pan of milk on whilst the wind whistled through the house through any gap it could find. The sound of the rain lashing against the glass sounded like an energetic tap dancer had taken up residence in the vicinity.

They all stared out the window, mesmerized by the rapidly snaking water as it ran down the glass.

The smell of burning milk and the hiss as it hit the halogen ring brought them out of their gloomy daze.

Sandy rushed and pulled the pan of milk off the stove as the milk frothed and bubbled over like Vesuvius.

"Mom, you can't even be trusted with boiling the milk." Seth snarked as Ryan got the mugs out of the cupboard. Kirsten swatted her son around the head.

Sandy scrubbed at the burnt milk on the stove whilst Kirsten fixed the cocoa, adding a final flourish of whipped cream and marshmallows. Kirsten watched as her son drizzled chocolate syrup to his cup.

"Your teeth are going to fall out one of these days Seth." Ryan sipped at his chocolate. He then gave a big open-mouthed yawn. " 'Scuse me I'm going to call it a night, get out of these wet clothes and read for a bit."

Kirsten kissed him goodnight and was pleased when Ryan offered his cheek to her. It seemed that although drying his hair was still off bounds, he'd obviously got used to the kisses now. He waved to them all and opened the door before making a dash for the pool house as quickly as he could whilst carrying a hot steaming cup of chocolate. Seth was next, he said goodnight and retreated up the stairs.

Sandy grinned.

"Not even ten and we're alone. Maybe I could get to like stormy weather." He wrapped his arms around Kirsten's waist.

"Early night?" He suggested.

Kirsten tucked a packet of double stuffed Oreo's under her arm, then added the syrup that Seth had left out on the counter and led Sandy by the hand to their room.

"Oh sexy food games huh... I'm at your mercy." Sandy turned off the lights as he passed.

* * *

The wind grew stronger as the night wore on. Several yachts broke loose from their moorings; slates blew off roofs, beachfront properties flooded, lightning struck Harbour school setting off the fire alarms, debris from people's gardens and houses littered the roads.

Most people slept through the worst of the storm and only realized the full extent of the damage the next morning when they found their pools full of leaves and snapped branches.

Some people weren't so lucky.

**TBC**


	2. Chapter 2

Title: The Tempest  
Author: cheekymice.  
Rating: PG  
Beta: None...so all its many mistakes are mine.  
Disclaimer: I don't own The OC, Ryan or Benjamin McKenzie.  
Story: Snagged from an idea over at ocplotbunnies.  
Notes: This fic will be made up of short but sweet chapters...oh and there will be no sex! Heh.

**The Tempest**

_An Oc fic definitely not written by Will Shakespeare_

_Part 2_

The Cohen house creaked and moaned, as the wind grew stronger and stronger. Outside the trees bowed low and the water in the pool washed over onto the marble surround. The lid of the grill bounced up and down and the garage door clattered. An old football broke free from its forgotten prison under a shrub and bounced down the path as the lights illuminating the pool flickered several times before shorting out.

* * *

Seth woke up to the sound of his windows rattling. He blinked and sat up in bed, squinting at his window in the dark. It took him a while before he realized that the lights outside were no longer casting their usual rosy glow into the room. He thought of Edgar Allen Poe and Ravens. He felt the heebie-jeebies creep up his spine, his room no longer the conforting womb it was during the day. He shook his head and settled back down in bed, He tossed and turned, smoothing the sheets and blankets trying to get comfortable again before pulling the covers up around his head to trap the warm air in a cocoon of his own making. He shut his eyes and ignored the growing storm outside. 

He breathed deeply and yawned. When his windows vibrated again he snaked his arm out from under the blankets and groped sightlessly on the nightstand next to him rejecting the cool metal of his watch and the pile of coins and crumpled notes. His fingers touched cold plastic and he pulled Captain Oates under the covers as sleep crept back into his world.

* * *

Whilst Sandy softly snored against Kirsten's neck, safe and warm in their bed, a metal trashcan rolled around the car park of the Bait shop as several late night stragglers fought to hold their coats over their heads to protect them from the rain as they waited for their cab.

* * *

Summer Roberts curled up on the couch with her father and Pancakes watching Frankenstein's monster wreck havok with his creator's life. Kaitlin Cooper sat on the floor between them wearing her nightwear and a huge big fluffy pair of bunny slippers and Taylor Townsend sat out on the floor next to her with her chin on her knees. A big glass bowl of popcorn liberally smothered with melted butter sat between them as they all blocked out the storm outside.

* * *

In the pool house Ryan slept in his sweats tonight to try and counteract the chill seeping through the glass walls, he lay flat on his stomach with his hands under the pillow. He'd listened to the sounds of the storm for two hours before the rain drumming on the roof finally made him put down his book. The steady patter hypnotized him and swiftly pulled him into the arms of Morpheus. And he slept the deep dreamless sleep of the terminally tired, not even the ominous sounds of the wind howling straight off the ocean filtered into his subconscious.

* * *

Julie kept out of Dr Robert's way lest he should regret his decision to let her stay on in his house. She sat in her room looking through her old photo albums. She tried not to cry, as she looked a photograph of a tiny blond girl proudly holding her new baby sister in her arms. She sipped her wine and reflected that the weather for once suited her mood.

* * *

The tall palm tree planted fifteen years before by the Newport Group's landscaping department swayed alarmingly from side to side. The wind moved it like it was still a young sapling. Each new heaving gust snapped a few more of the snaking tendrils from its sandy root ball. 

Maybe the landscapers should have planted it deeper; maybe it was never going to stand up to a storm of the magnitude that was hitting Newport. Whatever or whoever was to blame was irrelevant when it came down to it because no one cared about the tree; it had always just stood in the garden and was mainly ignored.

What most people talked about after the storm was its close proximity to the pool house and what happened that night.

**Tbc **

I'm evil ...I'm evil I tells ya:)


	3. Chapter 3

**Title: **The Tempest  
**Author:****cheekymice**.**  
Rating: **PG**  
Beta: **Oh soooo not beta-ed!!...all its many mistakes are mine.**  
Disclaimer:** I don't own The OC, Ryan or Benjamin McKenzie.**  
Story: S**nagged from an idea over at ocplotbunnies. 

**Notes:** This fic will be made up of short but sweet chapters.

**The Tempest**

An OC fic most definitely_ not _written by William Shakespeare.

Part 3

The night wore on and most of Newport slumbered. Down at the pier, behind the crab shack trashcans a bedraggled stray cat frantically moved its kittens away from a river of water that had formed over the course of the night. The kitten in her mouth mewed; scared by the brisk way its mother gripped the scruff of its neck as she ran down the ally to a dryer, safer hiding place. The tabby dropped her wet kitten unceremoniously amongst two of his fellow littermates and ran off into the rain again to repeat the process.

* * *

Summer kissed the soft twitching velvety nose of her rabbit, whispering to him not to be scared, the storm it would be over soon. She settled pancakes down for the night and turned off the lamp.

* * *

Taylor pulled the eyeshade down over her eyes and clapped her hands. The room was plunged into darkness. She'd survived a whole night without thinking about Ryan…. too much. She wasn't remotely scared of storms, after all she'd survived eighteen years with her mother she could survive anything.

* * *

Julie popped a pill in her mouth swilled it down with a gulp of wine. She shut the photo albums and looked out of the window.

The whole world was going to hell.

* * *

Seth sat bolt upright blinking into the thick molasses darkness. The loud crash outside was still reverberating in his head. He untangled his legs from the tightly bunched covers over him and got up quickly, ignoring his usual five-minute 'come to' rule after waking. Captain Oates fell to the floor with a dull thud, forgotten now as Seth pulled back the drapes that shrouded his window.

At first all he could focus on was the rain on the smooth pane of glass as his eyes fought to adjust to the light. Then his heart literally jumped into his mouth, he'd heard the expression and used it many times before but it was the first time the phrase had actually come true.

He rushed back to his bed and shoved his feet haphazardly into his sneakers and ran full pelt out of his room and down the stairs in a mad scramble, taking them two at a time as he yelled for his mom and dad.

He tried not to give in to his inner panic, when landing at the bottom of the stairs he heard a second crash, louder this time and all the more disturbing, as he now knew who was going to bear the full brunt of what was happening.

* * *

Sandy was already on his feet when he heard Seth running down the stairs. The unknown crash from outside had left him shaky and unsure of what was happening. He drew back the voile that graced the French doors leading out to the pool and peered out into the night.

Kirsten stood next to him pulling on her robe; she asked in a scared voice what the hell had happened. He couldn't say anything; he seemed incapable of movement as his eyes focused on the outside.

Even though it was pitch black outside he saw what was deeply wrong immediately and his brain couldn't quite comprehend it. He opened the French door and started running, his bare feet slapping against the wet ground, the rain running down his face.

He yelled Ryan's name.

A sudden strong gust of wind hit him head on and took his breath away. He stood still, literally frozen to the spot as the tree, which was now somehow inconceivably balanced on the damaged pool house roof, shifted.

He heard an ominous creaking followed by a moment of silence before the gut wrenching sound of breaking timber filled the air.

He could only watch in abject horror as the pool house roof collapsed in on itself.

* * *

Ryan jumped, suddenly very much awake as plaster rained down on his head. Had there been some sort of explosion? Confusion reigned as he fought to separate dreamland from the reality of the moment. He sat up in bed with his heart pounding. He flung off his covers and tried to blink powdery plaster dust out of his eyes.

He hadn't felt such innate danger in the air since his early days in Fresno when his father was still around, even though he didn't know what the fuck had happened. Something dripped on his face and he raised his hand to touch it. He looked upwards to try to get his head around what might be happening but it was too dark to see anything other than cracks that marred the usually smooth surface of the ceiling. His brain caught up to the theory that rain must be coming through his roof for some reason. Things quickly started to make sense as the sounds of the storm invaded his room through the broken glass of the windows around him.

He heard Sandy yelling his name, the fear he heard in his foster father's voice told him something was wrong, very wrong indeed.

Something on the roof moved with a loud grating crunch and blinding comprehension hit.

He swore loudly, adrenalin now in full control of his body and all traces of sleep gone.

He rolled off the bed onto the floor just as the ceiling came crashing down.

The noise of fracturing wood and breaking glass was deafening.

He tried to curl into a ball but there was no time as the debris landed, he felt like he'd been hit by a truck as what seemed like a ton of wood and terrocotta tiles slammed into his body at once.

At last things seemed to stop falling.

He waited for more blows but they didn't come. He let out the breath he'd been holding, then inhaled a thick lungful of dust. He coughed.

He wished he hadn't.

His ribs were on fire.

A burning, searing pain that literally took his breath away. He tried to focus on breathing slowly but increasing panic made it hard.

He moved, punching out with his fists, testing to see if he could. He frantically tried to roll over onto his back but whatever pinned him down was heavy, very heavy.

His desperate movements caused the precariously ballenced rubble surrounding him to shift again.

The last thing he felt was something hitting him hard on the back of the head.

* * *

Sandy, Kirsten and Seth stood in a row as the rain lashed down on them. The wind slapping the wet material of their night clothes against their bodies.

Not moving.

Staring at the twisted wreckage that had once been their pool house.

And Ryan's home. 

* * *

Under a sheltered fire escape the cat shook the water out of her coat and lay down on her side. Her kittens latched onto her swollen nipples and kneaded her belly as they drank. The cat shut her eyes and purred, content with the knowledge that her family was safe once more.

**TBC**

::ducks the missiles coming my way::


	4. Chapter 4

**Title: **The Tempest  
**Author:****cheekymice**.**  
Rating: **PG**  
Beta: **Oh soooo not beta-ed!!...all its many mistakes are mine.**  
Disclaimer:** I don't own The OC, Ryan or Benjamin McKenzie.**  
Story: **For **dunbaby**...snagged from an idea over at ocplotbunnies.

**The Tempest**

Part 4

Kirsten couldn't count all the feelings that enveloped her body as she stared at the wreckage of what used to be the pool house but horror, dread and paralyzing fear for Ryan were the main protagonists.

It was eerie standing in the downpour with only the sounds of the wind in the air and the rain splattering on the ground. Sandy and Seth were silent, standing as if made of stone, Kirsten was sure that the look she saw on their faces was mirrored on hers.

One of the tiles slipped off the pile of rubble in front of them and crashed down onto the marble at their feet, it was as if that singular noise broke the spell that held them in its thrall.

She called out to Ryan, screaming his name.

Sandy and Seth were already scrabbling at the ruins, both frantic as they threw dusty concrete, wood and terracotta behind them.

Kirsten ran back into the house, stubbing her bare foot against the door jam in her haste but didn't stop to check the damage as the pain didn't even register let alone melt the numbness that had settled itself deep in her bones. The scuffed and broken skin wept crimson on the pale wool under her foot as she dialled 911.

" What is your emergency?" The operator calmly asked.

Kirsten wanted to curse and scream at the operator for being so cool when Ryan was currently buried under the pool house, she had no right to feel that composed when people's lives were being torn asunder.

Kirsten choked out what had happened. She didn't know if she was making sense as she tried to articulate how urgently they needed help. The operator with her frosty-assed voice asked her to repeat everything again. Kirsten tried to slow down; she tried to annunciate her words properly irrationally thinking that if she did then Ryan would be okay, using her words as a lifeline to a situation she couldn't control. She was shaking as she walked out into the rain again to watch her husband and son as they worked desperately to free Ryan, explaining as she stood what had happened clearly, begging for help.

"Ma'am, just hold tight. The fire and ambulance service are on their way."

Kirsten didn't remember ending the call, she didn't remember putting the phone in the pocket of her robe. She was working in autopilot now. She joined the men, ignoring the relentless wind and rain, only concentrating on getting her son out alive. They formed a chain, working a frantic and desperate ballet.

"Where are they, why aren't they here yet?" Kirsten paused, straining her ears to see if she could hear sirens over the organic sounds of the storm, she pulled a wet lock of hair out of her eyes and took a slab of plaster from Seth.

"They'll be here soon." Seth said almost as if he was speaking mostly to reassure himself.

They both stared at each other; unspoken words floating in the air only to be beaten with the virtual baseball bat of hope, making the negative thoughts fall to the ground with a dull thud between them.

"Oh god…Ryan…Ryan." Sandy's voice broke through their telepathy and they watched his stance change as he redoubled his efforts.

Kirsten stumbled over the broken bricks and stone after Seth as they raced to where Sandy worked.

She looked down as Sandy and Seth laboured. A pale patch of Ryan's skin peeked through a gap in the roof material. She tentatively reached out her hand and touched the grey dusty flesh, scared that she might disturb the precariously balanced debris but the need to connect with Ryan was too strong.

She squeezed his arm, scared that he wasn't responding to her or Sandy's words.

They worked tirelessly and quickly to clear all the rubble off of Ryan, cursing that help had not come yet. Seth mumbled that the storm must have been stopping the rescue vehicles from getting through maybe the roads were blocked. Soon a large hunk of wood was all that lay between Ryan and the help he needed. Seth grabbed at the other end of the large beam that covered Ryan, Sandy straining at the other end, his foot slipping on the sludge that was forming under their feet from the rain mixing with the powdery plaster fragments.

"You've got to help us Kirsten." Sandy breathed heavily and shook the water off his face like a dog.

She reluctantly gave up her hold on Ryan and steadied herself as she gripped the wood at Seth's end to try and pick up the slack of her son's slight frame.

They heaved at the huge slab of wood. Teeth clenched hard with the effort, neck muscles taught and straining, shear will doubling their strength as they lifted.

Kirsten cried as her arms started to shake and her legs trembled with the extra weight bearing down on her joints.

"I can't hold it." She shouted.

Seth had a fixed expression on his face but the strain was also clear to see.

Sandy's hands were also slipping on the wet wood and he knew it was only a matter of seconds before his cold and bleeding hands lost their grip. He shouted for them to swing the beam as far to the left of them as possible, away from Ryan. They used all the energy they had left and the beam crashed down with a resounding thud. They all staggered and stumbled back as it slid back towards them on the uneven surface.

Sandy didn't have time to think, he lurched forward, grabbing Ryan by his sweatshirt and dragged him towards him as fast as he could before the beam crashed back to the place where Ryan had just been laying.

They all stared in shocked silence at what might have just happened but that quickly changed to relief that Ryan was now free of his tomb.

Sandy flipped Ryan over in his lap. He looked down at Ryan's closed face, his eyes tightly shut and his face impassive. A thin trial of crimson ran down his cheek but apart from that he looked completely unharmed.

Sandy put aside his fear over moving Ryan because as far as he could see he had no choice. He ignored the voice in his head telling him that maybe they should have waited for professional help. So far none had arrived, the only sound around them was of the distant crashing waves and the wind trying to find its path through the trees and houses.

"Where's that fucking ambulance?" It was the first time he'd heard his son cuss to that extent in front of them but it probably mirrored all their sentiments.

Kirsten knelt down next to Sandy, touching Ryan's face and gently shaking his shoulder.

"Ryan baby, please wake up."

"He's going to be okay…right dad?" Seth's voice was pleading as he scrapped his sopping hair back of his face.

His father didn't answer.

Something settled in Sandy's stomach, a deep-seated fear that plucked at his heart and made his throat tight. It wasn't just that Ryan was unconscious; there was something wrong in the tilt of his head and the limpness of his limbs. He swallowed thickly and stared intently down at Ryan, his eyes searching for confirmation he was mistaken.

Something must have shown in his face. Kirsten knew him too well. They'd had years of studying the subtle nuances in each other's faces over the kitchen table and in the bedroom.

"Sandy?" Her voice broke in the second syllable and he so wanted to be wrong. He tried to hold it together but he couldn't and he knew that Kirsten could see the naked fear in his eyes.

"Sandy…no…no." She whispered the words and he knew that Kirsten understood what was showing on his face.

He bent his head down and hugged Ryan's body close too him, desperate to feel the soft rise and fall of Ryan's chest, needing confirmation that he was wrong. Sandy placed the palm of his hand flat on Ryan's rib cage and rested his cheek against Ryan's face. He felt nothing and he couldn't stop the strangled cry from escaping his mouth.

"Dad…what's wrong…. dad?" Seth started to back away, already shaking his head in denial.

Sandy lifted his head, aware that his lips trembled uncontrollably as the full comprehension of the situation hit him.

"He's gone."

The sound of sirens turning into the gated community carried on the wind and almost drowned out Sandy's words and the sound of Kirsten's wail…. almost.

* * *

It was a warm and bright Tuesday when they buried him. It seemed wrong that the birds nesting in the surrounding trees of the chapel sung cheerfully and swooped overhead.

It was also so wrong that a cool breeze blissfully caressed the skins of the funeral party as they stood solemnly watching the mahogany casket slowly disappear down into the ground, when something that seemed so innocuous today was what brought so much devastation on Newport less than a week ago.

High above the group below a butterfly struggled and struggled before finally managing to emerge from its cocoon. It waited patiently for the suns rays to dry its body and give it much needed strength before it tested its wings. It flew off high into the sky, carried by the warm thermals, relishing freedom after the oppressive closeness of its larvae form.

* * *

Guilt was a main theme of the group.

Sandy wished he hadn't moved Ryan that night. Maybe if he'd waited and let the fire service and EMT's do what they were trained to do then Ryan would be with them today. It didn't matter that the autopsy report stated clearly that Ryan was probably dead from the second the heavy beam fell and crushed his neck, severing his spinal cord and compressing his windpipe effectively and cruelly cutting off his air supply. He needed to blame someone and he needed that person to be himself.

When he took Ryan into his home he swore to protect him from the world but he hadn't realized that Newport showed the same amount of blatant disregard to Ryan as Chino had done. Abandonment, violence and death had followed Ryan with a dogged determination culminating in the ultimate betrayal and that made Sandy so angry. Fate had managed steadfastly to intervene no matter where Ryan was living and it was such a waste of a human spirit that had refused to be broken. Sandy wondered where things had gone wrong. It seemed so unfair.

* * *

Seth felt guilty that he'd never really let Ryan know how much he'd meant to him. Ryan had never known that he was more than a friend, more than a brother because he'd never told him.

He'd just taken it for granted that Ryan would always be there. And maybe one day, when they were both a lot older and Ryan was his inevitable best man Seth had pictured telling Ryan how he'd given him his life back all those years ago when he'd showed up in Newport to rescued him from a life of terminal boredom and invisibility. They'd laugh about it all being a bit too 'minty' but it would be one of those moments in life that you treasured along with the birth of your first child and the day of your retirement.

Except he'd never get the chance now, that chance had been quashed by the senseless act of a tree being torn from the earth in a storm.

* * *

Kirsten felt guilt at The Newport Group. Why hadn't they built their pool houses incorporating the same legally ridged safety features as their houses? Why…because they were never meant to be used as permanent residences. They were only ever meant as a convenient place for the pampered of Newport to change in and out their swimsuits and mix cocktails in. At the most to be used as an occasional crash pad for drunken guests. The pool house was never meant to be a home and if she looked closely at the terms and conditions of all the deeds… as she had done many times since the storm, it stated clearly in the legal speak of the 'obsequious don't sue us' kind that should any fire, earthquake or flood hit Newport then the pool house was not built to withstand such events.

Why had they let Ryan walk out into the storm that night? Because the pool house was Ryan's home, it had become synonymous with Ryan and none of them had given it a second thought. Why hadn't they insisted he stay inside with them that night? Why? She didn't have an answer and she hated herself for it.

She kept an unopened bottle of vodka in the back of her closet to test herself. Today she was going to throw it away, she wasn't strong enough without Ryan around reminding her…reminding her of what she didn't want to become.

* * *

Julie felt guilty because all she could think about was how Marissa wouldn't be alone; she now had someone to take care of her.

* * *

Summer felt guilty because she knew that Ryan's death had ripped a chasm in their lives in a way Marissa's own death had never done. That made her feel so disloyal to her oldest friend but Ryan had touched people in a way that Marissa never could. Ryan was a one off and it saddened her more than she realized that she would never see Ryan's shy smile again or ever hear him say 'Summer' in that way of his where he elongated the word and made it sound special.

* * *

Taylor wiped her eyes with her right hand, her left gripped tightly onto Kaitlin's hand. She wondered if anyone would ever make her feel as beautiful and worthy of love as Ryan had.

* * *

Kaitlin stood staring numbly at the ground and wished she could turn back the clock, back to the time when she'd first met Ryan. She'd be nicer to him, a whole lot nicer than she'd been back then. She'd been such a spoilt little bitch, she'd fed off the vicious vibes her mother and the other Newpsies were throwing Ryan's way. She'd just jumped on the bandwagon hoping to curry favour with her mom. She felt guilty because even though she'd been young and never usually cared about what people thought, she had seen how much their cutting snipes had hurt him. 

He had never held it against her, held it against any of them. In a place that almost prided itself on the unpleasantness that seethed like a permanent undercurrent, Ryan had chosen to rise above it.

Ryan had been nice to her when he didn't have anything to gain.

He'd understood her.

Ryan had made her feel safe.

She wished she'd been nicer to him when he first came to Newport.

* * *

Dawn, Frank and Trey Atwood stood in silence, each wresting with their own demons as they watched their son and brother being lowered into the ground.

* * *

Behind the Crab Shack the cat watched her kittens play in the sunshine. They stalked and jumped on the shadows and fragments of take out litter wafting down the ally.

The little black and white mottled kitten saw something that made its eyes grow large, it crouched low and wriggled its behind several times before it pounced.

It patted at the vibrantly colored fluttering wings. It toyed with the butterfly, letting it take off before slapping it back down to the ground repeatedly.

The kitten quickly lost interest when the butterfly's wings eventually stopped fluttering and it lay still and broken on the ground. It bounced back over to its brother and sisters as they batted and bit each other in a high-energy game of tag.

The cat let her kittens play and rolled on her back in the dust, for once content with the world.

**_The End_**

****

Thanks for the reviews people. Means a lot. "Kisses"


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